


On Traditions, Again

by ainm



Series: On Traditions [2]
Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Dialogue Heavy, M/M, Slice of Life, Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 15:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17246876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ainm/pseuds/ainm
Summary: Follow-up to my wee piece for theTraditions Drabble Day, 'On Traditions,' which also didn't have a useful summary. :-)





	On Traditions, Again

**Author's Note:**

> My belated follow-up, which I originally intended to have for the Christmas Eve Drabble Day but which ended up not even set on Christmas Eve. I made the two halves into a series, which is pretty silly given that these notes are almost longer than the first piece, and I don't intend there to be a third in the series (in the interest of managing expectations), but hey, why not (since they can't be chapters of a single work and associated with different collections)...

"I made soup and picked up some fresh bread," Blair called from the kitchen as Jim hung up his coat.

"Sounds good. How about spaghetti tomorrow night?"

Blair whirled on his partner, his mouth falling open. Jim managed not to laugh.

"Are you insane? Are you... are you feverish? Are you _concussed_?! Did you have some sort of accident today that no one told me about?"

"No concussion, I was just feeling like some pasta -- how about the day after if tomorrow is no good?"

"JIM! The day after is _Christmas_ , since tomorrow is Christmas _Eve_! We don't have spaghetti on Christmas Eve, or on Christmas! You know this! You can't just... can't just _change_ Christmas! Have you lost your mind? Are you -- ah, you bastard, you're just messing with me, aren't you."

"Sorry, Chief," he apologized, finally letting the grin loose. 

"That wasn't funny," Blair said, more curious than accusatory as he left the kitchen. "I know you know it's Christmas, we've been talking about it all week--"

"--month--"

"--a while, whatever, so what's the point?" He frowned suddenly, and Jim frowned in response. "You're not... I mean... you don't... Do you really _want_ spaghetti? Or to change our usual routine?"

"What? No! You were right, I was just teasing," Jim assured him.

"I mean, I know they aren't your childhood traditions..."

Jim snorted. "They're even less your childhood traditions, so I should be asking _you_ if you are OK with this" -- he raised a quick hand as Blair began to sputter a denial -- "but I know that you love the traditions that we've created, so I'm not going to ask."

"You say 'we' but I know that a lot of it has been my idea..."

"I can't argue with that, but they are still _our_ traditions. And I'm... grateful for them. So no, I don't want spaghetti, because that's not our tradition, though maybe it's other people's because you don't need to remind me that not everyone's traditions are the same, and I don't want to change any of what we usually do."

Blair leaned in and kissed him, first a quick peck on the lips and then slightly longer on the forehead. "Are you sure you're not feverish? Too long a chilly stake-out?"

Jim ruffled his partner's hair and gave him a quick noogie before Blair batted his hand away. "Just gave me time to think, that's all. But honesty hour is over, I'm hungry -- what kind of soup did you make? Bison? Beet? Not butternut squash, I hope."

"Jim, it's Christmas Eve Eve -- that's not the tradition!"

**Author's Note:**

> So I thought & thought about what Blair's traditions would involve. It's not that I didn't come up with any ideas... but somehow it just didn't seem right to go with any of them, or pin it down at all (though I compromised with a Christmas Eve Eve tradition, but even then you have to decide on the kind of soup :-)). I couldn't finish this until I faced the fact that I would not be specifying their traditions. 
> 
> But I feel certain that Blair has all their time planned out from about the 20th through the first week of January, and it involves all their friends and colleagues, and food that Jim loves to complain about plus food that Jim loves, and elements of celebrations from around the world, and probably some volunteer stuff, and it's all their own and they both love it even if aspects of it make their friends think they are crazy, and it never goes 100% as planned because hey, police stuff (and whose life ever goes as planned anyway?), so that's just part of the tradition.
> 
> Happy New Year!


End file.
